When Yuri Studin founded Spartacus Soccer Club in 1994, he was inspired by two traditions and famous clubs – FC Chornomorets Odessa from his original hometown, and Toronto’s/North York’s Armourdale Soccer Club (wearing orange, after the Dutch national team). One of Armourdale’s legendary teams in the 1980s was coached by Jacob Jacobi and Yuri Studin. That team won five straight North York Soccer League titles, five straight North York cups, five straight North York playoffs, two Super Cups, two Ontario Cup silver medals, and every single Labour Day tournament it entered across the United States and Canada.
That Armourdale team, one of the most dominant in Ontario history, would go on to produce many of the leading Ontario and Canadian players of that generation, including many future first-generation Spartacus players, who would seed the Spartacus “winning mentality”: Stuart Black (future UofT captain and All-Canadian), Sean Edwards (once called the “Pele of North York”), Irvin Studin (future York University captain and All-Canadian), Oliver Borkowski (also a future provincial standout at Woodbridge Soccer Club), Suhail Mirza (future All-Ontario UofT varsity player), Ziv Fishman, Scott Perrin, Leor Israelski (future York U varsity player), Sergio Di Carlantonio (future York U varsity player) and Ivano DeLuca (future Ryerson varsity player).